MAGNETIC; MAGNETICAL a.
gnetism, the declination, inclination, and intensity. (c) See under Element. -- Magnetic equator, the line around the equatorial parts of the earth at which there is no dip, the dipping needle being horizontal. -- Magnetic field, or Field of magnetic force, any space through which magnet exerts its influence. -- Mag…
METER; METRE n.
t was intended to be, and is very nearly, the ten millionth part of the distance from the equator to the north pole, as ascertained by actual measurement of an arc of a meridian. See Metric system, under Metric. Common meter (Hymnol.), four iambic verses, or lines, making a stanza, the first and third having each four…
MICROMETER n.
ass, it is called a divided-object-glass micrometer, and when the instrument is large and equatorially mounted, it is known as a heliometer. -- Double refraction micrometer, a species of double image micrometer, in which the two images are formed by the double refraction of rock crystal. -- Filar, or Bifilar, microme…
NORTH a.
., 2. -- North pole, that point in the heavens, or on the earth, ninety degrees from the equator toward the north. -- North preceding. See Following, a., 2. -- North star, the star toward which the north pole of the earth very nearly points, and which accordingly seems fixed and immovable in the sky. The star a (alp…
POLAR a.
point; as, polar coördinates. Polar axis, that axis of an astronomical instrument, as an equatorial, which is parallel to the earths axis. -- Polar bear (Zoöl.), a large bear (Ursus, or Thalarctos, maritimus) inhabiting the arctic regions. It sometimes measures nearly nine feet in length and weighs 1,600 pounds. It i…
PRECESSION n.
y the action of the sun, moon, and planets, upon the protuberant matter about the earth's equator, in connection with its diurnal rotation; -- so called because either equinox, owing to its westerly motion, comes to the meridian sooner each day than the point it would have occupied without the motion of precession, and…